The dog done died and the roof leaks…

14 Jul The dog done died and the roof leaks…

One of those is my final excuse for the bakery not opening yet. We don’t own a dog so you can figure it out. I was going to make a plea to everyone who reads this, and all of your friends, and all of their friends, to send an e-mail to the contractor asking him to complete his work so we can get going. My lawyer advises me against this strategy and my wife, as well as my conscience (is there a difference between wife’s opinion and husband’s conscience?) tell me not to waste any more energy on the challenges that have kept us from getting our doors open. I am taking their advice and concentrating on tweaking recipes, hiring staff, calibrating ovens and attending to the thousands of minute details that go into opening this little shop.

This has been a week of many small wins that have given me great pleasure. We completed our first batch of pork for Bahn Mi. We cured the pork for a week in Korean BBQ sauce and then smoked it for 6 hours. The result was yummy. I then got to use our new vacuum sealer to seal in the juiciness and preserve it for opening day. It’s the little things in life that makes one happy!

We also got to use our restored bread slicer to slice up several loaves of bread. Now this may seem like a simple thing but it really was quite emotional. I have very fond memories of the Swedish Bakery in my village in the midwest. Twice a week after morning mass my parents would stop by the bakery and pick up sweet rolls and maybe a loaf of bread. I was fascinated by the bread slicing machine and can remember it like it was yesterday. (Age does compress time. The reason being that every day we live is less of our total life lived than the previous day.) At any rate when I saw a dilapidated old bread slicing machine in the contractor’s garage, I jumped at the chance to buy it and restore it. It is finally up and running and I love using the darn thing. Keeps me young.

Our old italian pasta extruder returned from the Pasta Machine Hospital in Dallas and is working like a charm. Dominic, the wonderful owner of Specialty Restaurant Equipment in Dallas was able to find an old motor, built in Milan in 1969 and convert it to run our machine. Its not pretty but runs like a charm. The man is a master and is a great proof source for all of us who hate to ever throw anything out. My wife is surely rolling her eyes but you just never know when that supposed piece of junk will come in handy, dear.

Finally, unrelated to the bakery. A little single mother wren decided to hatch her eggs in my cement mixer in the garage. She diligently went out time after time to get food for the chirping little darlings. After several days I stopped hearing the noise from the cement mixer and noticed the nest was empty but I kept seeing mom with food in the garage. I discovered one of the little wrens in a plastic bin and he couldn’t quite fly his way out of it. Mom kept feeding him to give him the strength to get out. This morning I notice he is gone and hope that he flew the coop and is out on his own in the wren universe.

Its a big week ahead for us. We are hanging our first art show today. It is a wonderful collection of photos of local markets around the world by Jane Abrams of Port Royal. This will certainly make the bakery come alive. We will continue with preparations to open. Today we confidently say that we likely, perhaps, potentially, with a little luck, be open for business on the 23rd of July. If we are not, I will publish the contractor’s e-mail! And we can’t wait to serve up our breads, pastries, coffee, pastas, sausages, sandwiches, salads and sweets!